JP-A-H09-47028 discloses an electric power converter apparatus, in which a limit time (hereafter referred to as dead time) of switching operation is set to prevent a short circuit. The short circuit occurs when a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element in an inverter circuit turn to on-state at the same time. The electric power converter apparatus also provides a compensating function to compensate an insufficient output power due to the dead time. For example, the output power decreases due to the dead time. The compensating function, which compensates electric power error due to the dead time, is referred to as dead time compensation. In JP-A-H09-47028, a compensation voltage is added to a voltage command value to compensate an output voltage decrease due to the dead time. In a case where a current command value has a positive polarity, the compensation voltage is defined as a positive voltage. In a case where a current command value has a negative polarity, the compensation voltage is defined as a negative voltage. According to this conventional art, the output voltage decrease due to the dead time is compensated. Further, near a zero-crossing point of an output current, a distortion in the current waveform is restricted.
A configuration of the electric power converter apparatus according to the conventional art still has a problem that the current waveform distorts substantially due to the switching operation performed by the switching elements in the inverter circuit. Specifically, when the dead time is set to a large value to increase a safety of the electric power converter apparatus, the distortion in the current waveform generated by the switching operation will be generated significantly.